Started finger feeding, loves food, sleeps 10.5 hours straight at night, has 3 set naps, is babbling constantly, definitely a mommy’s girl, has developed separation anxiety, still not crawling and she’s pretty frustrated by this, has pulled to standing, still serious but also very happy, loves to screech LOUDLY to get attention

Reese is such a sweet little thing with a big personality. At first, she’s a tough nut to crack but once you’ve gotten past her stoic outer shell she becomes all crunched nose smiles and sweet babbles. She likes to pinch and pull hair, which isn’t too pleasant, to say the least.

This little one still doesn’t have any teeth, and even though she’s been drooling a lot her gums aren’t red or inflamed so we’re still waiting. The lack of teeth doesn’t hold her back at all. She pretty much exclusively finger feeds now and eats table food with us, mashing her food with her gums. Her fine motor skills have developed beautifully and it’s such fun to watch her stuff her face. We went peach picking last week and she ate 3 whole peaches!! I was kind of shocked.

Her primary mode of getting around is by rolling, but she often gets super frustrated and just screeches. I keep reminding her that she’s a human being and not a car brake but she pays me no heed. Ever determined to do things in her own way and in her own time, she has pulled to standing before even crawling. What can I say? She’s her own person.

She’s starting to develop separation anxiety and definitely has a strong preference for mommy over anyone else.

Reese is sleeping 10.5 hours at night and get’s up at 6 am and which point I bring her into bed with me and nurse her while I doze a while longer and if I’m really lucky she’ll fall back asleep for another hour or so.

Asher and Bennett can’t get enough of her and Asher, in particular, is very protective of his baby sister, often singing her sweet little made up songs to cheer her up. One morning I woke up at 6:30 am not to the sound of her cries but to Asher sitting by her crib and singing to her to keep her company. My heart just about burst!

We’re so loving getting to know our sweet Reesey and I’m trying to cherish every moment with her, but I find it’s quite hard to give her the same focus and attention that I gave her siblings. Life with three is a joy but no joke.

26 inches long (53rd percentile), 15 pounds 2 ounces, (29th percentile), 17.2 inches head circumference (75th-90th percentile), smiles readily, sits upright without her hands, laughs almost exclusively for Bennett, started napping in her crib, finally moved out of her sleep regression, still only sleeps in 3-4 hour stretches, hair has started coming in, loves to suck her big toe, takes 3 naps a day, loves sleeping on her tummy

This little girl is FINALLY a smiley baby. She is definitely still more serious than either of her siblings but she’s really starting to smile and I love it. She’s still stingy with her laughs but for some reason, Bennett can have her in a fit of giggles by playing peek-a-boo with her and it is probably the sweetest thing on the face of the planet. Always grabbing at food that we have with us,

Reese developed quite the interest in people food this month. Always grabbing at food that we’re eating and since I’m SOOOOO late in posting this, she has started solids, but you’ll have to wait for her 6-month update to hear all about it, but let’s just say it’s been quite the ride.

The dreaded sleep regression is behind us!! I think the turning point was when I started putting her to sleep on her tummy. She can roll back and forth on her own anyway, but something about being put down on her belly as opposed to her back stopped her from waking up the second I placed her down. I also spent a lot of time this month working with her so that she would be able to fall asleep without nursing and that has also helped a ton. Reese now naps in her crib and sometime in the next few weeks, I plan on night weaning her, which I hope will result in her sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). I must admit, I have mixed feelings about moving her into her own bed at night. On the one hand, I know that once she crawls things will only get more challenging (she has already fallen out of our bed once in the middle of the night). But on the other hand, I’m really loving all the snuggles.

Reese developed a double ear infection and possibly strep this month, which needless to say was not fun. She did however finally kick the chest congestion that had been lingering for 2 months (halleluja!). The worst part about her ear infection aside from her obvious misery was getting her to take her antibiotics. If I could get her to swallow it without immediately spitting it out (which let’s be honest, was near impossible) then 2 out of 3 times she’d vomit it up in a fit of rage. Giving her medication quickly became the worst part of my day.

Reesey is getting stronger and likes to sit upright now, although she will still tumble over onto her face after a while, so I have to be vigilant. She loves to put her feet into her mouth and will often be seen sucking on her big toe, which is super adorable.

Asher and Bennett continue to dote on her. They love her so much and are so intent on demonstrating that love that poor Reese often has two sticky and loud people in her face, smothering her with attention and affection. She truly in the apple of their eyes.

Rolled over (back to tummy), slowly getting over her sleep regression, has giggles a few times this month, loves to be in the center of everything, can hold things fairly well now, had some chest congestion, still drooling like a faucet, really wants to sit up, enjoys bouncing in her jolly jumper, loves to splash at bath time, flat out refuses a bottle

5 months old! How is this little girl five months old already?! Where is the time going? This past month has been one fraught with many challenges, mainly due to my knee surgery but also in large part due to Reese’s sleep regression (although, things are finally looking up on that front!!). Juggling 3 children under 5 while being immobile has been one of the greatest trials of motherhood, it has made me so thankful for all the blessings in my life. Being temporarily laid up has really put things into perspective for me. My cousin Dana (who’s a super human) and my mother-in-law both came and stayed with us this month to help out during the last 2 weeks I had to be on crutches. They were both God sends and I’m just so blessed to have such a wonderful support system. While I’m off crutches now, I’m still in a straight leg brace and have to ‘peg leg’ around, but still, this is a VAST improvement.

Reese loves to roll over now. If I put her down on her back, she’ll quickly roll over onto her tummy and then immediately start protesting the fact that she’s on her tummy. She can roll back over, but for whatever reason, she simply doesn’t and instead has decided that screaming to be rescued is the way to go. This girl has a flare for the dramatic, I can already tell.

We got her a jolly jumper this month and every time I put her in there I can barely hold back my own giggles, she looks like a teeny tiny river dancer while in it. It’s hilarious but she absolutely loves it!

This baby will not take a bottle, which is a problem because with her sleep so erratic I never know when she’s going to wake up and need to be nursed, which means I’m afraid to leave her with anyone and Raf and I are in sore need of a date night. She has been sleeping a bit better. I generally am able to nurse her and then put her down in our bed, surrounded by a pillow blockade, and she’ll drift off to sleep happily. This is fairly new though so I’m still hesitant to rock the boat and attempt to put her to sleep in her bassinet. Lately, she’s been doing a 3 hour stretch in the evening, which is way better than the waking up every hour that she was doing last month. However, even that isn’t consistent and therefore can’t really be relied on. She’s basically moved into our bed and she seems quite content to stay there.

Reese continues to smile more and more but she’s a tough crowd when it comes to laughing. I mean I’ve only been able to make her laugh heartily one time and have been able to illicit the barest of giggles a handful of time and usually only be tickling her, at which point, it really only seems like she’s doing it to make me stop. She’s my serious girl for sure.

Asher and Bennett continue to fawn all over Reese and it’s basically the sweetest thing ever. She’s a very good sport about it, even when Asher insists on picking her up, or rolling her over (to rescue her from tummy time) and inadvertently hurts her, or when Bennett sit on her for reasons only she knows. Reese is certainly a luckly little girl and we’re clearly all obessed with her.

I can’t believe it’s been a month already! This has been a hard month for me. Reese has been a challenging infant thus far. She sleeps all the time, but only if she’s on me and when she isn’t sleeping she’s been incredibly fussy, purple crying.

She nurses only when she absolutely must and the rest of the time wants nothing to do with it. She won’t nurse to be soothed or for comfort only to eat and even then she stops just as soon as she can, rarely draining my breast or taking a full feed. The first two weeks I was waking her up to nurse every 2-3 hours but since then I’ve been letting her feed on demand, well kinda, I still offer her my breast often, she only sometimes will take it. When she is nursing more often than not she chokes while feeding and pulls off, sputtering and coughing, only to then start screaming in annoyance. If I can coax her back to the breast, she’ll nurse a bit more and then stop. She detaches often to fuss while feeding, which results in a lot of milk being sprayed everywhere. On the rare occasion that she does do something close to a full feed, she vomits everything right up. So needless to say this aspect has been pretty stressful. I was frankly amazed that she had gained the weight that she has.

She sleeps a lot and I know that sounds like a good thing, except that she’ll really only sleep when she’s on me or right next to me. I spent the second half of this month working on getting her to sleep anywhere else, with little success. It would take me around 2 hours to put her to sleep in the bassinet at night. Every time I put her down she’d wake up screaming and after a few times of that she’d start purple crying and wouldn’t be soothed by anything until she finally became so tired that she’d more or less pass out. At first I stuck with it because at least after the initial battle to get her to sleep she’d stay asleep for a good 4 hours but that was short lived and she then started waking up every 45 minutes to an hour, which quickly became unbearable since she wouldn’t nurse back to sleep, so I resigned myself to having her sleep on me in the evenings until I went to bed at which point she slept in the bed next to me. She wears a breathing monitor to give me peace of mind, but it’s definitely not ideal as I just don’t sleep as well when she’s next to be, especially since she has to be touching me which means I can’t roll over or change positions at all.

And then there’s the crying. It’s such a grating cry. She spends almost all her time asleep unless she’s nursing and really dislikes being awake. She is almost always extremely angry whenever she’s awake and again won’t be soothed by nursing, so it’s been a real challenge. If she isn’t crying, she’s looking at us with the grumpiest of looks. She mainly just wants me to hold her against my chest so she can sleep. I’ve worn her a couple times, but since my core muscles are basically atrophied it’s really hard on my back at the moment. Sometimes she just wakes up screaming even when she’s on me or right next to me, leaving me at a loss. It’s been pretty challenging.

Reese was born with a clogged tear duct which isn’t supposed to bother her, but if I don’t stay on top of wiping all the gunk away her eye basically becomes glued shut and her little eyelashes pull whenever she tried to open her eyes. We’ve also had thrush. I just can’t seem to avoid it with my kids. I used gentian violet for a week, which got rid of the white patches on her tongue, but then it became apparent that her gums and the roof of her mouth were bleeding, poor thing. Turns out thrush can do that when it gets really bad. So now she’s been prescribed 14 days of liquid fluconazole and I have to use a nystatin nipple balm. Fingers crossed that this get’s rid of it.

We’ve had such an outpouring of support from our new community up here in Maine, with people bringing us meals and taking Asher and Bennett on playdates. And my parent’s have been really helpful, but also a bit overwhelmed since my brother and sister-in-law had their 3rd child the day before Reese was born and they’ve basically been helping watch 4 kids and take care of 2 postpartum women and infants. Raf’s aunt also came to stay for a week, which was such a God send. And Raf works from home now and even though he wasn’t able to take time off that does mean that he can pop in a help if I really need him to and it does allow for more flexibility in his schedule. But even with all that, it somehow feels like we’ve had less support or help this time around than we did with the other two. I think it has something to do with the fact that with the other two we had family visiting and staying with us which resulted in 24/7, round the clock help. So it’s been really hard on me emotionally. I’m also hormonal and probably have some baby blues but I’ve been crying a lot and I’ve pretty much just felt invisible most of the time. Like no one really sees me. Which is all new territory for me. After Asher and Bennett were born I was so blissfully happy I felt like I was floating. So that’s been a real bummer. Raf has been doing his best to be as supportive as possible but it’s just been really hard on me. I wasn’t entirely sure I would write about this here and perhaps this topic needs a dedicated post of it’s own, but I do feel it’s important to talk about these things and to shed light on the topics of baby blues and postpartum depression if only to destigmatize them. So please let me know if you want me to write more in depth about this topic.

On a lighter note, she really loves bath time. It’s really the only place I’ve seen her look remotely content or happy. Asher and Bennett absolutely adore her. They are constantly asking to hold her, kiss her and hug her. It’s really so sweet. Every time she cries they both run to her and try to calm her OR they immediately tell me that she’s crying, even if I’m clearly right next to her. It’s pretty sweet. Bennett has really blossomed into her role as a big sister. She gives Reese the gentlest of kisses albeit while squashing her with the rest of her body, but still. Bennett isn’t so thrilled to have to share me, but at least she doesn’t seem to harbour any jealousy or resentment towards Reese. Since Asher is older this time around he really understands what it means to be a big brother. He keeps exclaiming how cute she is and asking for reassurance that we’re keeping her. He really seems a bit worried that we may just send her back or something. He’s really quite taken with her. Both Asher and Bennett have been great mommy’s little helpers. I’m just in awe of how gracefully they’re handling this transition, even if they have been acting up a bit more as they vie for attention.

We really can’t decide who Reese looks like. Everyone says she looks like Asher, but Raf and I just don’t recognise her when we look at her little face. I think she has Raf’s mom’s nose, my mouth and Raf’s eyes. But to me, she just looks so different than Asher and Bennett. I think her nose is really throwing us off since Asher and Bennett have the same nose and Reese’s is so clearly different. I do believe we will actually have a brown eyed child this time as her eyes are a dark muddy grey. She’ll be our brown eyed girl 🙂 I’m definitely looking forward to settling into our new normal as a family of five!!

This little girl is ONE YEAR OLD!! One whole trip around the sun! I am feeling all the feelings. So much joy and yet so many achy aches. My baby is now a toddler. I can not do this child justice in writing. She is quite simply light upon light.

Bennett has become a champion eater. This girl puts food DOWN. She had so much fun eating her birthday cake. She took her time and savored every bite, whereas the next time we gave her a slice she shoveled it in like there was no tomorrow.

Ben Bucket has also developed quite the strong will. She no longer puts up with her brother pushing her around and will make her opinion heard. She has even started fake crying just to get him in trouble so I have to keep an eye on her to make sure I’m not blaming poor Asher for something he didn’t do.

Bennett is exceedingly affectionate and she gives me copious amounts of kisses which I absolutely adore. She has become quite steady on her feet. She has mastered the stairs and still loves to climb and is finding new ways to give me heart attacks every day. She constantly wants to be doing what her brother and the big kids are doing and will. not. be. left. behind.

This year has been one of the sweetest of my life, which is not to say that it wasn’t challenging or downright hard because it was, but the gift of having a second born child is that you learn to savor all the moments because you know all too well how fleeting they are.

This girl is on the move and getting into everything. There was definitely an incident involving Bennett splashing in Asher’s pee filled potty while my mom and I sat a few feet away…yea mommy fail. She’s crawling at light speed. She has successfully learned to climb up the stairs, but has no clue how to go down, so we’re working on that.

B is forming strong opinions and she does NOT like when A rough houses with her. She is not a rough a tumble girl, or at least not yet. She loves playing with her big brother and he constantly makes her laugh however he is finding it challenging sharing with her, so that’s something we need to work on.

Her hair is coming in, little by little. I’m so tempted to put a teeny tiny bowl in the wisps of hair on the top of her head. She still has light colored eyes, that are a cream of wheat color around the pupil and then a bluish green grey. They are quite striking and I’m guessing they’ll probably settle into a hazel color, but lighter than Asher’s.

Ben Bucket has been cruising around on furniture and likes help walking around. She’s eager to walk and keep with with Asher, so much so that her poor head and face are covered in bruises. She doesn’t quite have the balance or coordination yet, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that this month.

She continues to be very laid back and easy – she is an absolute delight!

Month 7 was a busy one indeed! Bennett started crawling, first in army style and later on her hands and knees, she sits up on by herself and I’ve even found her standing in her crib. Speaking of which, I now have to literally hold her down occasionally to get her to go to sleep, because she just sits upright and keeps herself awake. So I place my hand on her back and a minute later she’s out, but she struggling to get up nearly the whole time, hopefully this passes quickly.

Unbeknownst to me her first tooth arrived only for me to discover it already poking through her gum. However within a week she was getting her top two front teeth and we we’re so lucky. The poor girl was miserable, she wasn’t sleeping well and was barely eating, but she’s since returned to her usual habits.

Bennett’s days are filled with exploration and trying to gain new achievements. Literally as I’m typing this she was able to pull herself up enough to get a toy off of the coffee table. No where is safe anymore! She is a busy girl and does not like sitting still, which is evident in this month’s photo shoot. She did NOT want to be laying down!

We drove up to NJ this weekend, and we all got to meet sweet baby Parker! Bennett looked giant next to him because of course he was only 6 weeks old, but I have a feeling he’ll catch up quickly since he’s already weighing in at around 14 pounds or so.

We also drove up to Shenandoah one day and took B of her first hike. Raf wore her in the carrier for the first time as we hiked up the mountain while I had the pleasure of giving Asher a piggy back ride most of the way (someone did NOT want to walk), which was only fitting since the last time we were there I was around 7 months pregnant with him.

Bennett’s favorite pass time is still watching everything Asher does. She really loves him and he in turn enthusiastically adores her and she has the bruises to prove it.

Rolls over (back to tummy), first plane trip (across the country – coast to coast), loves to grab her feet, delights in watching Asher, sits up in tripod formation for short periods, hates being on her tummy for too long, really likes being upright

Bennett rolled over the day she turned 4 months old and basically became a pro over night. She loved to flip herself onto her tummy, but then is far too lazy to flip back so she just squawks her disconnect until someone rolls her over. No sooner than you roll her over however, will she then almost instantaneously flips back onto her tummy and the cycle continues.

She is utterly enamored by her feet and spends nearly all the time she isn’t rolling onto her tummy gripping her toes instead. Inching them ever closer to her mouth.

Ben Bucket had her first plane trip this month! We flew across country to first Oregon and then to California, 4 flights in total and she was a total rock star, with the exception of one extremely over tired fit in the car. Her sleep was thrown off somewhat by the trip but nothing too bad.

Asher and Bennett are interacting more and more. Asher intentionally makes Bennett laugh and laughs at things she does in return. It is the cutest thing. I LOVE having two children. Is is hard and challenging and some days I don’t know up from down, but it is quite simply the sweetest thing…most of the time. Asher has hit Bennett a couple times thing month. It’s unclear what motivates him to do so. I’m trying to nip it in the bud but it really breaks my heart and is very unlike him as he has really never hit anyone. For the most part however, he is still in complete love with her. Always wanting to hug and kiss her. He delights in her presence.

Month 5 is going to be a busy one, but I’m so looking forward to watching it unfold!

14 pounds 13.5 ounces (70th percentile), 24 3/4 inches long (71st percentile), 16 5/8 inch head circumference (93rd percentile!), got her first cold, has started grabbing things with her hands, eyes are still blueish grey, no hair growth whatsoever, quick to smile, super easy going, wakes once at night, refuses the bottle, still likes her pacifier but only when sleeping, wants everything in her mouth, babbles constantly

This past month has been slow in terms of milestones. Bennett is actively grabbing now and putting anything she can manage straight into her mouth. While she was quick to role from her tummy to her back she seems to be in no rush to roll from her back to her tummy, which is likely because she HATES tummy time. She loves to babble and to carry on “conversations.”

B Girl has two modes: 1 – totally laid back and chill and 2 – banshee screaming. There is little to no build up or warning. She simply goes from being utterly content and happy to inconsolable. Luckily this only really happens if she gets over tired or over hungry and then it’s almost always my fault because I missed her subtle clues that she wanted to sleep or eat. But boy can she scream. This girl has some serious pipes and a persistence that astounds me. She won’t even nurse when she’s like that, even if the reason she’s like that is because she’s hungry. So I find myself doing all sorts of acrobatics to try to calm her down enough so she’ll eat.

Asher had a cold this month and although I tried it was near impossible to get him to refrain from kissing her on the face and/or hands so of course Bennett got it, but thankfully as far as colds go it was exceedingly mild. Bennett also ran a low fever after receiving her 4 month vaccines and was only content to be held skin to skin and I soaked all the cuddles in. Skin to skin really does work miracles.

Now that Bennett is able to grab things, Asher finds it super entertaining to give her all the toys at once. SHE MUST HAVE OPTIONS! This normally results in her being buried under a pile of toys and pacifiers but it’s so fun to watch their interactions develop.

Raf tried giving Bennett a bottle once while I was out this month and try as he may she flat out refused. He tried several different kinds but nothing worked. I too refused the bottle as a baby. This girl is so much like me that it’s kinda freaky, in the most endearing way possible of course.